Device Fingerprinting Methodology

Overview

Singular uses device fingerprinting as a fallback for performing attribution if none of the supported device identifiers are available, and if Google Install Referrer method cannot be used for Google Play Store Applications.

When is Device Fingerprinting typically used?

Device identifiers are only available in mobile app environments, and as a result, any campaigns that run on a mobile web environment will need to rely on device fingerprint.

Example Campaigns that run on a mobile web environment:

Email campaigns

Tracking organic downloads from your mobile web landing page

Campaigns with ad networks working with mobile web inventory

How does it work?

Singular uses device information that is publicly available in the HTTP headers in the click of the Attribution Tracking Tag, and does not have access to any personally identifiable information.

Singular collects the following data points on a click using fingerprinting methodology:

Platform

Device Brand

Device Model

Device Carrier

IP Address

OS Name

OS Version

User Agent

Timestamp

When a user downloads and opens the mobile app, the Singular SDK collects the same data points from the mobile app and sends the data to Singular's server, which searches for the matching click with the same device fingerprint. Singular then attributes the install to the last click recorded for the device.

How does it compare to attribution based on Device IDs?

Due to the volatile nature of the information used to match fingerprint clicks, Singular sets the attribution window to only 24 hours. The probability of accurately matching fingerprinting clicks decays exponentially after 24 hours. For this reason, Singular expires clicks using fingerprinting that are older than 24 hours.

Device identifiers are more persistent and are rarely rest by users. As a result, Singular sets the attribution window to 30 days, and expires the clicks after this window has passed.